Scottish Executive

Child Protection

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of all victims of sexual assault in each of the last five years was children.

Cathy Jamieson: The statistics available centrally on crimes of sexual assault recorded by the police do not enable the age of the victim to be identified.

EventScotland

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been allocated by EventScotland since its inception.

Frank McAveety: As of 30 June 2004, EventScotland had allocated £1,587,667.50 since its inception.

EventScotland

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive which projects have received funding from EventScotland and how much funding each such project has received.

Frank McAveety: The following events have received funding from EventScotland through its international events programme:

  


Event

Funding Committed



Glasgow International Piping Festival 2004

£40,000



Under 21 Rugby World Championship 2004

£100,000



Fort William Mountain Bike World Cup 2004 

£50,000



Burns An' A' That Festival 2004 

£100,000



Badminton World Team Championship 2007 bid

£4,694



Balmoral Road Race 2004 

£35,000



Triptych Music Festival 2004 

£2,000



European Brass Band Championships 2004

£10,000



Edinburgh's Hogmanay: Night Afore International 2003

£40,000



Senior Mens European Volleyball Championships 2003

£5,875



European Cross Country Championships 2003

£20,526



Climbing World Cup 2003

£25,000



MTV Europe Music Awards 2003 

£125,000



Tiree Wave Classic 2003 

£29,375



Mount Stuart Motorsport Classic 2003 

£20,000



Loch Lomond Great Adventure Race 2003 

£17,625



Scottish Senior Golf Open 2003 

£52,327 (in total)



British Senior Golf Open 2003 



Fort William Mountain Bike World Cup 2003 

£30,000



International Festival of the Sea 2003 

£100,000



Balmoral Road Race 2003 

£41,125



Highland Year of Culture 2007 
(recurring commitment from 2003–07)

£40,000 per annum 



Burns An' A' That Festival 2003 

£100,000



  EventScotland will provide funding to the following events through its international events programme:

  


Event

Funding Committed



Heineken Cup Final 2005 

£50,000



Badminton World Team Championship 2007

£220,000



  EventScotland will provide funding to the following events through its regional events programme:

  


Event

Funding Committed



Edinbane Festival, Skye

£2,000



Museum of Flight Airshow, East Lothian

£25,000



Big in Falkirk

£25,000



The Enchanted Forrest, Dunkeld

£24,282.50



Bowmore Blair Castle International Horse Trials & Country Fair, Blair Atholl

£25,000



Winter Words Festival, Pitlochry 

£15,000



Drovers' Tryst Walking Festival, Crieff & Strathearn

£3,800



St Andrew's Week Festival

£18,000



British Touring Cars Championship, Knockhill, Fife

£10,000



Wickerman Festival, Kircudbright, Dumfries and Galloway

£15,000



Highland Festival, Inverness

£5,000



Highland Feast, Inverness

£15,000



Dundee Flower and Food Festival

£11,000



Scottish Traditional Boat Festival, Aberdeenshire

£8,500



Palace of Magic, Falkland, Fife

£2,500



Scotland's Countryside Festival, Forfar, Angus

£2,500



  EventScotland will provide funding to the following research projects:

  


Project

Funding Committed



Developing a Scotland-wide clash diary

£8,000



Contribution towards economic impact research of Edinburgh festivals 

£5,875



  These funding commitments reflect EventScotland's position on 30 June, 2004.

Housing

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many housing officers entered training in (a) 1999-00, (b) 2000-01, (c) 2001-02, (d) 2002-03 and (e) 2003-04, broken by gender and ethnic background.

Margaret Curran: I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to reply. Her response is as follows:

  This information is not collected centrally.

Housing

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to introduce a rent convergence policy, similar to that introduced in England and Wales.

Ms Margaret Curran: We have no plans at present to introduce a rent convergence policy for local authorities and Registered Social Landlords.

Housing

Colin Fox (Lothians) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to discontinue the means test for disabled people seeking a home improvement grant for adapting their home.

Ms Margaret Curran: The arrangements for private sector housing grants were modified in October 2003 to target grants according to applicants' resources. For some priority categories, including adaptations to houses to suit the needs of disabled people, any grant made by the local authority must be a minimum of 50% of eligible costs. In addition, Social Work departments can still provide additional "top-up" funding where they see fit.

  We do not expect there to be any significant disadvantage to disabled people in Scotland as a result of these arrangements and we have no plans to discontinue them.

Housing

Colin Fox (Lothians) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the impact has been of the introduction of means testing on those who apply for a home improvement grant.

Ms Margaret Curran: Statistics on housing improvement grants since the introduction in October 2003 of targeting according to the applicant's resources are not yet available. Statistics on grants for the year to April 2004 are due to be published in August 2004 but are unlikely to provide a good indication of the impact of the new system because of the short period between the implementation of legislative changes and the end of the reporting year. Statistics being collected with effect from April 2004 will relate specifically to the new arrangements. We will be monitoring the impact of the new arrangements on the basis of these sets of statistics.

Housing

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to encourage low-cost home ownership developments.

Ms Margaret Curran: I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:

  The Scottish Executive's housing investment programme is the main way used to encourage low cost home ownership development. It provides funding for such developments in disadvantaged communities to replace or improve poor quality housing and also in areas where demand exceeds supply or where market prices are beyond the reach of local or average incomes.

Justice

Michael Matheson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many unrepresented accused persons have conducted their own trial in district courts in each of the last five years.

Cathy Jamieson: This information is not held centrally.

Land

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what estimate it has made of the amount of brownfield land available for new build in (a) Glasgow, (b) Edinburgh, (c) Aberdeen, (d) Stirling, (e) Dundee and (f) Inverness.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: The results of the Scottish Vacant and Derelict Land Survey 2003 show that the amount of land identified as vacant or derelict for which the preferred end use would result in new building is: (a) Glasgow – 1,033 hectares (b) Edinburgh – 80 hectares (c) Aberdeen – 46 hectares (d) Stirling – 88 hectares (e) Dundee – 164 hectares and (f) Inverness – 86 hectares.

  The report of the Scottish Vacant and Derelict Land Survey 2003 is available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 30782).

Land

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it can provide any information in respect of the size of land banks available for development held by private housing developers and, if not, where such information can be obtained.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: The Scottish Executive does not collate information centrally on the land and property holdings of private companies.

  Information about the ownership of land can be obtained, upon payment of a fee, from the Registers of Scotland. However, the Registers of Scotland do not record whether land is available or has authorisation for development.

Landfill

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will respond to the objectors who have written postcards to it in respect of the proposed extension to landfill sites by Eden Waste Recycling Limited in the village of Greengairs.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: Responses are presently being issued to all those parties who have submitted postcards.

Landfill

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the position is in respect of the approximately 1,400 pieces of correspondence sent to its Ministerial Correspondence Unit from the residents of Greengairs and the surrounding area concerning Eden Waste Recycling Ltd's application for a new landfill site and why any of the correspondence has not been dealt with.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: Responses to over 700 postcards received to date are presently being issued.

Livestock

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will bring forward details of the replacement to the Livestock Improvement Scheme (LIS); on what date any new scheme is intended to come into force, and whether there will be any gap between the date of cessation of the LIS and commencement of a replacement scheme.

Allan Wilson: It is currently expected that firm proposals for a scheme to replace the Bull Hire Scheme will be finalised and published in October with a view to obtaining state aid approval and introducing the scheme in early 2005. Hires arranged under the Bull Hire Scheme in response to applications received in September 2003 will continue until late 2005, early 2006. We have no plans to replace the Ram Purchase Scheme and the Shetland Ram Scheme.

NHS Finance

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-8634 by Malcolm Chisholm on 10 June 2004, whether it has any plans to ask NHS boards to provide such NHS staffing information.

Malcolm Chisholm: The disclosure of staff costs and numbers in resource accounts is determined by the accounting guidance to be applied. This guidance is formulated by the Financial Reporting Advisory Board to HM Treasury and applied, as appropriate, to NHS Scotland. We are not aware of any plans to require this level of detailed analysis in future.

  The cost book contains more detailed analysis of hospital costs that is not shown in the annual accounts and is broken down in a different way. The cost book information requirements are reviewed regularly but the information produced is not subject to audit.

Renewable Energy

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to utilise biomass energy production.

Lewis Macdonald: Biomass energy projects are eligible for support under our Scottish Community and Household Renewables Initiative. Electricity generated from biomass is also eligible for support under the Renewables Obligation Scotland.

  A sub-group of the Forum for Renewable Energy Development in Scotland (FREDS) is currently developing an action plan to accelerate the development of biomass energy in Scotland. The group is expected to publish its report during the autumn.

Scottish Executive Expenditure

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how much, and what percentage, of its Education Department's budget has been spent on administrative costs in each of the last five years.

Mr Andy Kerr: The Education Department's budget covers programme expenditure only. Its administration costs are funded through the Executive's Administration Budget and so it would be misleading to provide percentage figures. The Education Department's expenditure on administration costs since 1999-2000 is as follows:

  

 

£000



1999-2000

13,272



2000-01

14,882



2001-02

9,598



2002-03

11,240



2003-04

11,607 (provisional)



  HM Inspectorate of Education became an executive agency on 1 April 2001, when its administration costs were transferred to the Education programme budget. Restructuring of Departmental functions in the Scottish Executive over the period also affects some of the year on year comparisons.

  For information the Education Department's programme budget since 2000-01 is shown as follows:

  

 

£000



2000-01

955,131



2001-02

727,887



2002-03

636,977



2003-04

654,380



2003-04

11,607 (provisional)



  In 1999-2000 the Education programme was within the budget for Education, industry, arts and libraries.

Tourism

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what changes will be made to the structure of VisitScotland.com in view of the abolition of area tourist boards, in particular, what changes will be made to board structure and representation; what action will be taken in regard to shares controlled by the current area tourist boards, and, if share ownership is transferred to another body, whether any compensation will be paid.

Mr Frank McAveety: VisitScotland.com is proving to be a great means of increasing the number of visitors to Scotland and will continue to be so. The board and shareholder structure of eTourism Ltd (known as visitscotland.com) will not be affected by the introduction of the new tourism network. The detailed arrangements for the transfer of assets and liabilities is being considered by the project team delivering the new tourism network. However, we expect that shares held by current area tourist boards will transfer to the new network boards in the same way as other area tourist board assets. There will be no compensation payable for transfers of shares within the new network.

Waste Management

Alex Johnstone (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost was to it and local authorities of recovering, recycling or destroying chlorofluorocarbons from refrigeration and air conditioning equipment in each year for which figures are available and what the estimates are for future expenditure.

Ross Finnie: The Executive awarded specific grant of £1.69 million in 2001-02 and £3.3 million in 2002-03 to local authorities towards the overall costs of storing, transporting and disposing of discarded domestic refrigeration equipment containing ozone-depleting substances. For the years 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06 additional provision of £4 million, £4 million and £2.5 million, respectively, was included in the Local Government Finance Settlement to assist councils with waste management and the costs of disposing of fridges.

  Data on local authority expenditure are not collated at this level of detail.